- This topic has 1 voice and 0 replies.
-
Posts
-
-
Autonomous cars are fast-approaching, and so are those building the platforms that will help operate them. Today, Pony.ai — the startup whose autonomous driving platform powers the first fully self-driving fleet in China — announced that it has raised $102 million in funding.
Pony.ai is positioning itself to be one of the companies to watch in this space. Co-founded as recently as December 2016 by Tiancheng Lou and CEO James Peng — Peng is the former chief architect of China’s search giant Baidu (which itself is making big inroads into car systems) — the company became the first startup to get a T3 license to test autonomous vehicles in Beijing. (T3 is the highest level available in China today.) In Beijing, it’s been working on training its systems on roads in a closed site; in-vehicle safety procedures; and some other 39 different features related to getting a self-driving system to work without critical flaws.
In the last seven months, it’s also launched a self-driving taxi service. In February, Pony.ai signed a strategic agreement with Guangzhou Auto Group and subsequently rolled out a fleet of vehicles in Guangzhou itself. That fleet has now given 1,000 rides in a 30-km area.
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
